Recently convicted of organizing the murder of Galina Starovoytova, former special forces soldier and bandit from the dashing 90s, Yuri Kolchin, made a sensational statement for investigators. Boris Berezovsky and Konstantin Yakovlev were allegedly involved in the contract murder of Vlad Listyev. The latter is a curious person, one of the founders of such a concept as “gangster Petersburg.” Let's talk about him.
The future St. Petersburg authority Konstantin Karol'evich Yakovlev was born on February 4, 1954 in Leningrad into a family of St. Petersburg intellectuals. Like this. He became interested in sports, practiced freestyle wrestling and quickly became a master's champion. After school, he graduated from a physical and mechanical technical school and served in the army in a sports company.
With the beginning of perestroika, Yakovlev began to engage in various dubious and not so dubious activities, mostly in his native Moskovsky district of Leningrad. He became close friends with Pavel Kudryashov (Kudryash).

Until 1988, Konstantin Yakovlev worked as a digger and installer of monuments at the Southern Cemetery. This is how he received his famous nickname Kostya Mogila, as well as a huge number of useful connections. At the same time, Yakovlev formed his own team, which can also be called a “team”. They were mainly engaged in the so-called “protection protection”. Konstantin also hunted at the Vneshposyltorg currency store on Makarov Embankment, where people gathered who made money from citizens selling Vneshposyltorg checks. The option was a win-win: checks were not currency, so it was impossible to bring criminal charges against the scammers who bought them from Soviet foreign workers.

First attempt

In Moscow, Konstantin met influential people in the world of crime. Seryozha Tashkent, well known in those years among Moscow swindlers, helped him establish connections in the capital. But Kostya Mogila did not forget Leningrad either. Since 1991, the Moskovsky district has been headed by Viktor Novoselov. He resorted to the help of Kostya Mogila, who was able to resolve the conflict situation without resorting to bloody showdowns. Moreover, Yakovlev more than once helped out Novoselov’s son, Vasily, who, due to his adventurous inclinations in business, found himself in critical situations.

Soon Yakovlev was accused of extortion and ended up in Kresty. This is his first and last move, which is typical. Konstantin always really wanted to stay away from banal bloodshed. And in general, he loved to be aesthetic, to wear white suits a la Mikhalkov in “Cruel Romance.”

Then Yakovlev’s lawyer managed to re-qualify this article as Article 147 (fraud) of the old Criminal Code, and in January 1992, the Kirovsky District Court of St. Petersburg sentenced Konstantin to three years in prison (suspended).

But a short prison term only increased Yakovlev’s authority. However, he gravitated toward almost legal business. And he headed his own company, Almaz OJSC, where he was commercial director. The company's office was located on Varshavskaya Street, where the first attempt on Mogila took place in 1993. Konstantin was saved by a lightning-fast reaction (thanks to sports): when the killer entered the office, pulled out a pistol and opened fire, Mogila managed to fall to the floor, hiding behind the table. Later, the investigation found out that the assassination attempt was organized by Igor Savin (Sledgehammer) from Yakovlev’s team, who stole a shipment of vodka, hiding behind the name of Mogila, and thus decided to evade responsibility. Quite a common case for those years.

Dividing the “Pie”

And Mogila’s business was booming, he was rapidly growing rich. But there were dissatisfied people in Yakovlev’s team, since Konstantin liked to invest public money in various, sometimes risky, projects. And it was at this time that Konstantin Yakovlev tried to get into the oil business. He negotiated a partnership with the head of the BFIG Pavel Kapysh. The negotiations were successful.

However, in the summer of 1999, Pavel Kapysh was killed. Kostya Mogila attended his funeral service in the church, held onto the coffin and in every possible way emphasized his good attitude towards the late tycoon. But it seems that he then tried to take over the business of the deceased. Raider schemes that were fashionable in subsequent years were used.

The more successfully Yakovlev’s business developed, the more they began to talk about his confrontation with Vladimir Barsukov (Kumarin), the head (according to law enforcement agencies) of the so-called “Tambov” organized crime group. This rivalry was even called a “criminal war,” which peaked at the end of 1999 - beginning of 2000. Within a short time, Georgy Pozdnyakov was killed and Vyacheslav Eneev was wounded - far from the last people in the Tambov team.

In particular, they called the response move the attempt to liquidate Kostya Mogila by Novgorod killers, who were promptly tied up by operatives of the then 15th department of the Criminal Investigation Department of the NUVD of St. Petersburg. It was reported that Yakov-Lev was ordered by a certain Bob Kemerovo, a man of Misha Khokhla (a former State Duma deputy with a different last name, of course), once the second person in the “Tambov” hierarchy.

However, Konstantin Yakovlev did not have long to live. Kostya Mogila was killed on May 25, 2003 in Moscow. Two motorcyclists shot up the Nissan Maxima car in which Mogila was located and fled the crime scene. The police then noted the exotic method of murder. Still, hitting the target from a moving motorcycle is not so easy. But the killers turned out to be skillful guys.

Leave from the “crosses”

We must pay tribute to the police: law enforcement agencies uncovered the contract murder of the vice-president of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy (Mogila became very devout) Konstantin Yakovlev. A month after Mogila’s murder, his business partner, the founder of Tatinvestneftegazstroy CJSC, Rustam Ravilov, nicknamed Roma Marshall, was shot in St. Petersburg. According to law enforcement agencies, at Mogila’s funeral, Marshall vowed to take revenge for him. Law enforcement agencies managed to solve the murders of Mogila and Marshal while investigating another crime. On October 14, 2009, in St. Petersburg, an attempt was made on the life of Oleg Makovoz, the founder of the Strong security agency and Marshal’s business partner. During the investigation, several people were detained, including an employee of the Strong agency, who turned out to be the mastermind of the assassination attempt. He informed law enforcement agencies that the main occupation of Oleg Makovoz, who came to St. Petersburg from Bratsk in the mid-90s, was contract killings. It was established that it was Oleg Makovoz’s group that committed the murder of Kostya Mogila and Roma Marshal.

The reason for the murder of Mogila was his conflict with thieves in law. As investigators established, Konstantin Yakovlev patronized commercial structures participating in one of the largest projects in St. Petersburg - the construction of a protective dam. As for Oleg Makovoz, he was sentenced to a long term, but recently he could be seen peacefully walking in the center of St. Petersburg, say, on Nevsky Prospekt. The fact is that he made a deal with the investigation, which is investigating high-profile raider cases, including those committed by Vladimir Barsukov. Makovoz turned out to be such a valuable witness that he was sent from Kresty to walk around the city and was even given the opportunity for intimate meetings with his lawyer. Because of this, a loud scandal broke out between the St. Petersburg police department and the SKP.

And Kostya Mogila was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. His grave is one of the most magnificent among the representatives of the “gangster Petersburg” that has sunk into oblivion.

Evgeniy Solomonov
Based on newspaper materials
"Behind Bars" (No. 12 2010)

End of the Bone Grave

There were attempts on his life five times, but they were unsuccessful.
In the sixth, the killers did not skimp on ammunition.

INIn the criminal world in the city on the Neva, he is revered almost as a “godfather.” Moreover, not so long ago, this namesake of the governor was considered the “keeper” of the city, and this is the highest level in the territorial thieves’ hierarchy.

That is why the murder of this man on Sunday, May 25 in Moscow is compared to the murders of such famous criminal bosses as Sergei Timofeev (Sylvester) and Otari Kvantrishvili.

Kostya Mogila, according to his passport Konstantin Karol'evich Yakovlev, did not live a little over a year before his fiftieth birthday. He was born into an intelligent family in St. Petersburg; his father was repressed as an enemy of the people and was released only in 1947. the boy was left to his own devices, or rather to the street where he spent all his free time from school. Even then, he made acquaintance with many future authorities in his area.

Yakovlev made his initial capital in the funeral business. According to one version, it was while working in this field that he received the nickname Kostya Mogila. As a digger at the St. Petersburg Southern Cemetery, he boasted that no one could dig a grave so quickly and efficiently. His record - 43 minutes with one shovel - has not yet been broken. a good athlete, at one time he worked part-time in studios as a stuntman, but then switched to a much more profitable job - as a courier he transported money from large workshops from Tbilisi and Sukhumi to Moscow and St. Petersburg, where they were placed in the accounts of dummies.

Kostya started his own business by becoming a co-owner of several restaurants near Vyborg and Zelenogorsk. And then he put together his own team, where his childhood friend Pavel Kudryashov (Kudryash) became his partner. Kostya Mogila and his henchmen built their criminal career on racketeering. This is where he got burned and received a prison term. Since this was the first conviction, the sentence was not harsh. From this episode, the future “godfather” concluded that from now on he would act exclusively from behind the scenes, without directly participating in criminal acts.

He was one of the first among the crime bosses who took the path of legalizing his business and made serious efforts to appear as a respectable business person. To a large extent, at this stage, he was helped by his acquaintance with Viktor Novoselov, first the head of the Moscow District Council of the city, and then a deputy and deputy head of the city Legislative Assembly. They had known Novoselov since childhood, growing up in neighboring yards. Mogila managed to subjugate most of the shops and stalls in the Moscow region, helping Novoselov become a co-founder of 15 companies registered in the region.

But the services that Kostya Mogila provided to the promising politician were not limited to this - there was every reason to believe that over time Novoselov would head the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, that is, along with the governor, he would become a key figure in the city. And the legislator’s headache was the adventures of his son Vasily. Having gone into business with the support of his father, he demonstrated not only a complete lack of commercial spirit, but also glaring dishonesty, more than once “ditching” his business partners. It so happened that these partners were the leaders of criminal groups who put the unlucky entrepreneur “on the counter” when he cheated or did not pay them on time. Shielding the son of his friend and patron, Mogila sometimes paid off his obligations and sent his people to the “offended” partners of Vasily Novoselov in order to settle the brewing scandal. It was he who helped Novoselov Jr. pay off another St. Petersburg criminal leader, Vladislav Kirpichev (Kirpich).

And then Novoselov was killed. The perpetrators of the terrorist attack were quickly identified, because one of the killers was wounded by Novoselov’s security guard and he was detained. A trial recently took place and he was sentenced to life imprisonment. But who is the customer? As paradoxical as it may sound, Kostya Mogila was named among those who could “order” Viktor Novoselov.

Meanwhile, his name was also mentioned in connection with the murder of the president of the Baltic Financial and Industrial Group (BFIG) Pavel Kapysh, who is also the head of the Balt-Trade fuel company. It was believed that Kapysh was a protege of another major St. Petersburg authority, Vladimir Kumarin, who is believed to be backed by Tambov authorities, who have long been tightly settled in the northern capital. The confrontation between Mogila and Kumarin (now he changed his last name and became Barsukov) sometimes resulted in a real war. Kumarin's closest assistant and confidant, Georgy Pozdnyakov, was shot dead. The same fate befell entrepreneurs with a criminal reputation, Viktor Sloka and Jan Gurevsky. The murder of Kapysh is also placed in this category.

It was known that the “fuel king” moved around the city in an armored Chevrolet jeep, followed by a Mercedes with security. The killers decided to use the Mukha grenade launcher. But given the thick armor, to be successful, the grenade had to hit the side post, at the junction of the armor plates. It is almost impossible to achieve such an accurate hit on a fast moving car. Therefore, as they said, with the active participation of Mogila, a complex scheme was conceived using traffic lights - automatic and manual.

Several groups were active. One synchronized the operation of traffic lights in the required manner, the second cut off with fire a Mercedes that had braked, like the jeep in front, at a red traffic light, the third precisely hit Kapysh’s parked car in the right place.

After his death, Yakovlev’s partner Vitaly Ryuzin became his successor at BFPG and the Balt-Trade fuel company.
By the way, the murder of Mogila himself in Moscow was organized just as thoughtfully. And before that there had been attempts on his life five times! But an enviable reaction, well-prepared security and simple human luck invariably saved the day. But Konstantin Karolievich has accumulated too many enemies, by the way, who was crowned thief in law back in the mid-90s. However, this circumstance did not at all bother many representatives of the Russian elite, who did not consider it shameful to communicate with the St. Petersburg “godfather.”

For example, one of his partners in the media business was Sergei Lisovsky. And in his agency “Premier SV” Kostya Mogila even had his share. He did not hide his close contacts with Berezovsky and his right-hand man Patarkatsishvili. Among his good friends were the Yakovlev couple - his namesake Governor Vladimir Yakovlev and his wife Irina.

But let us return to the circumstances of the assassination attempt on Kostya Mogila, which testify to the thoroughness of its preparation. Let's start with how Konstantin Karolievich ended up in Moscow on the days when such significant anniversary celebrations were taking place in his hometown? It turns out that he was passing through Moscow, heading to Germany, where he had business interests. But you can fly to Germany directly from St. Petersburg - therefore, he had some important meetings planned in Moscow. And in general, why shouldn’t he spend a few days in the Mother See, where he rents a luxurious apartment on Zemlyanoy Val next to Pugacheva and Kirkorov. He lived here not alone, but with his beloved, 30-year-old Marina Volina, with whom he began an affair two years ago in St. Petersburg.

Apparently, the killers brought Mogila from St. Petersburg, and in Moscow they thoroughly studied his daily routine. They knew, in particular, that he had gotten into the habit of having lunch at the same restaurant in the World Trade Center on Krasnaya Presnya (Sovintsentr). On that last day of his life, at 16.45 he went to his favorite establishment. The Nissan Maxima was driven by 52-year-old Sergei Chirov, an experienced driver with extensive experience. Apparently, his criminal past was just as impressive. When doctors undressed him for examination after the assassination attempt, they saw his torso blue with tattoos - evidence of travel to places not so distant. Mogila himself and his girlfriend were in the back seat. The third passenger was, as follows from his documents, the assistant to the representative of the governor of Taimyr in the Federation Council Denis Tsarev.

At 16.50, a black foreign car with Mogila and his companions taxied from Zemlyanoy Val into the narrow Obukha lane. Here, near the UN office building and the mansion of the former Institute of Nutrition, the road turns at a right angle. Killers on a motorcycle hid on the ramp of the Institute of Nutrition. They apparently received information about the movement of the Nissan Maxima by radio or mobile phone. When the driver of the Nissan slowed down before a sharp turn, a motorcycle with two riders rolled down the ramp, caught up with the foreign car, and its riders took out machine guns and opened heavy fire on the right side of the Nissan. Everyone in the car was doomed - investigators later counted 33 shell casings at the crime scene. Marina Volina was saved from death by chance - a moment before the shooting started, she bent down to tie her shoelace. And yet two bullets hit her, although the wounds were not fatal.

On Sunday at this hour there were almost no passers-by on the street, except for a local resident walking his dog. A woman who at 17.00 went out onto the balcony of her apartment on the 10th floor and watched the whole scene from above also witnessed what was happening.

When such an iconic figure, an authority of such rank as Kostya Mogila, who also has extensive connections in government structures, is killed, it is clear that very influential forces are behind this crime. As already mentioned, Konstantin Karolievich had more than enough enemies and rivals. Last but not least, Kumarin (Kum) and the “Tambovites” identified with him... True, a couple of years ago there was a “historic” meeting between Kostya Mogila and Kum, during which the parties seemed to have agreed, if not on peace, then at least , about the truce. But we know what the price of such “agreements” is. The well-known Shevchenko brothers also had good reasons to settle accounts with Yakovlev.

One of them, Sergei, who was a deputy of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, was convicted of extortion, and he received a 7.5-year sentence, although, thanks to his high connections, it was suspended. His brother Vyacheslav Shevchenko, a former State Duma deputy from the LDPR, was on the federal wanted list for a long time. In competent St. Petersburg circles, there was an opinion that Kostya Mogila used the brothers’ difficulties to squeeze out their business. Finally, there is an opinion that some people from his own camp were interested in eliminating Yakovlev. In this regard, the name of Vladimir Kulibaba is mentioned, who at one time was considered the right hand of Mogila, but recently it has been said that he is cherishing the idea of taking his place. Konstantin Karolievich also did not have a good relationship with the new “supervisor” of St. Petersburg from the Moscow thieves, Artur Kzhizhevich.

It is likely that Mogila therefore chose the path to Germany through Moscow in order to enlist support in the capital in his emerging silent confrontation with his St. Petersburg enemies. But he was ahead of him...

Russian mafia 1988–2012. Criminal history of new Russia Karyshev Valery

Killing the Bones of the Grave

On May 25, St. Petersburg “statist” Konstantin Yakovlev (Kostya Mogila) was killed. As one witness testified:

“I looked down and saw a black foreign car driving from the Garden Ring along Obukh Lane. A hundred meters after the UN building, the lane turns at a right angle towards Vorontsov Polye, leaving the Indian Embassy building on the left. When the car slowed down and took this turn, a motorcycle with two riders rolled down the ramp from the institute's yard. The motorcyclists approached the foreign car, took out their machine guns and began shooting at the right side windows of the car. Everything was like in a movie - I didn’t even have time to get scared.” The woman’s testimony was confirmed by another local resident who was walking his dog when a motorcycle rushed past him towards Podsosensky Lane. “They almost ran us over, the bastards,” he said. “We barely managed to jump away.” When the operatives arrived, the three men in the shot Nissan were already dead. Another passenger of the foreign car, a woman, turned out to be alive. She was taken to the hospital, where she was operated on and placed in a guarded ward.

It so happened that when I met Kostya Yakovlev, he told me that he lived through the difficult time of the 90s, when St. Petersburg was the gangster capital, but death passed him by. But it was the fraternal brothers who killed Kostya Mogila in Moscow. A year later, as it happened, I began to defend one of my brothers in connection with another contract killing.

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The contract killing in the center of Moscow on May 25 of this year of the authoritative St. Petersburg businessman Konstantin Yakovlev (aka Kostya Mogila) did not cause much noise in St. Petersburg. Rather, it caused deathly silence. Business community, intelligence agencies, politicians, etc. They are now in a severe stupor from surprise and are wondering whether this emergency will cause a bloody wave of high-profile crimes, and what will now change in the criminal situation of Northern Palermo.

As is known, the brutal confrontation between a prominent member of the family governor’s clan, Konstantin Yakovlev, and the leader of the so-called “Tambov” business community, Vladimir Barsukov (Kumarin), which lasted from the mid-90s, ended several years ago with a truce and division of spheres of influence in St. Petersburg. “Tambovites” received almost the entire oil business, gas stations, municipal transport, and heat supply. Konstantin Karolievich controlled the St. Petersburg Sea Port, the drug and pharmacy business, and television advertising.

Now the entire system of gangster checks and balances in the northern capital, at first glance, is going to hell. It seems that a bloody redistribution is inevitable. But who will share what? “Tambov” in collaboration with “Surgutneftegaz”, in principle, has more than enough monopoly position in the fuel market of St. Petersburg. It is unlikely that this situation can be shaken in the near future. However, the inviolability of the authority of Kostya Mogila until May 25 did not raise any doubts in anyone. But that's how it happened. Who dared?

In this regard, it is worth recalling the landmark publication with the eloquent headline “St. Petersburg is on the threshold of a new war. Thieves with “brothers”, which was published in the newspaper “Evening Petersburg” at the beginning of September last year. It is known for sure that this article arose from the depths of the “Tambov” business community (why should we be surprised that informed journalists work for the gang - this is no longer news) and represents a very accurate forecast of the development of events in the criminal world of St. Petersburg, which has begun to justify itself May 25.

Let us briefly quote this policy article, highlighting its main points:

“A new criminal war has loomed on the St. Petersburg horizon. The stakes this time are much greater than ever before, and accordingly, cruelty is expected to be incomparable to previous times... Moscow is dominated by a bureaucratic oligarchy, and thieves in law are also strong. In St. Petersburg, the lads came to the fore. Among others, the Tambov criminal community, whose leader is considered to be the legendary Kum - businessman Vladimir Barsukov (former last name - Kumarin), has made itself known "authoritatively". The second capital of Russia was clearly getting out of the control of the first. Then the task arose: “gangster Petersburg” should become a city of thieves. They already tried to resolve the St. Petersburg issue in 1999 - 2000. A lot of blood was shed, several criminal cases arose, but it was not possible to radically change the situation. Now preparations are being made more thoroughly: the chance may be the last... The main thing is to finally resolve the “gangster issue.” The list of competitors subject to expenditure is opened by the “Tambov community”. At stake is control over the thieves' treasury, the size of which is comparable to the budget of an average subject of the Russian Federation... A fourth appeared in the arena, named Arthur. The flashes of another criminal war fueled Kzhizhevich’s ambitions. Today, more than ever in his stormy life, he is close to the crown of a thief in law and the key to the “common fund”... Kzhizhevich continues to confidently gain points. Moscow thieves are already forced to adjust their St. Petersburg policy with an eye on Arthur. At the same time, Arthur actually put together his own substantial “common fund”: according to some information, his capital was replenished from the business of Mikhail Mirilashvili, who was arrested a year and a half ago. No one even dares to plan serious actions against Kzhizhevich... The thieves' offensive has reached new levels. The main thing now is to have time to change the situation irreversibly. War on the “Tambov community” was officially declared in April 2000 at the thieves’ gang in Rostov-on-Don. The main report on the St. Petersburg issue was then made by the “supervisor” for the North-West, known as Kostya Mogila. Immediately after the historic meeting in Rostov, an avalanche of contract killings seemed to descend on St. Petersburg. The Tambovites, however, held out. The patriarch of Soviet thieves, Ded Khasan, pushed Mogila, who was unable to cope with the task, into the background. Today, Mogila has reduced his activity, content with petty intrigues with Moscow and monthly payments of 100 thousand dollars (according to rumors, this money comes from the chairman of the Municipal Chamber of St. Petersburg, Denis Volchek)... One way or another, Mogila keeps in the shadows. Artur Kzhizhevich confidently comes to the fore, having outplayed everyone..."

The law enforcement officers mentioned in this publication took its content very seriously. They even tried to initiate a criminal case for libel. But since it was impossible to find the author, the case died out, like many others like it.

At the same time, in parallel, a rumor was launched in the St. Petersburg media, which today can no longer be called a rumor:

“They say that a strike of dockers is expected soon in the Seaport of St. Petersburg. According to rumors, it should be initiated by Konstantin Yakovlev (Kostya Mogila), who recently held relevant negotiations with the leaders of the dockers. According to our information, another redistribution of spheres of influence is coming to the port, organized by the new overseer of St. Petersburg from the Moscow thieves in law, Artur Kzhizhevich. Mr. Kzhizhevich has recently been actively squeezing Mogila’s business, reaching the Seaport - one of the most tasty morsels of Konstantin Yakovlev’s empire. Apparently, Yakovlev will try to disrupt the upcoming redistribution, acting through controlled dockers. It is worth recalling that once upon a time it was Yakovlev who performed the function of overseer, but some time ago he was de-crowned. As we managed to find out, Konstantin Karolievich is very dissatisfied with the activity of the young Kzhizhevich, and the fight for the port will be only the first battle in the war that could unfold in St. Petersburg between the “authorities.” However, Mogila is not as strong now as before..."

A new “crime star” on the St. Petersburg horizon?

Who is this Arthur Kzhizhevich? Why him? Mentions of him are scattered in old criminal chronicles of St. Petersburg quite chaotically. The northern capital has thoroughly forgotten this once prominent representative of the so-called Kazan organized crime group, defeated in the mid-90s by the Tambovites (sometimes he was classified as a member of the Chechen organized crime group, since he was born in Grozny). Apparently, in vain. But first, let us remind you what the Kazan organized crime group was.

Kazan organized crime group:

The group was formed from youth gangs of Naberezhnye Chelny and other cities of Tatarstan, which were characterized by touring trips to both capitals. In terms of its weight in St. Petersburg, it closely supported the Tambovites. The backbone of the Kazan people were Tatars. The group was a collection of semi-autonomous clans (4 wings), whose leaders were conditionally subordinate to Kazan, receiving support from there with money, weapons, and people. Members of the group were not keen on the cult of power like the Tambovites, did not play sports, used drugs and alcohol, but despite this, they considered themselves devout Muslims and liked to swear on the Koran. Failure to follow the orders of the elders resulted in severe punishment.

To carry out death sentences in the ranks of Kazan residents there was a team of mentally abnormal scumbags who, if exposed, did not face criminal liability. Kazan residents strictly focused on thieves in law and carefully made contributions to the common fund. They committed many common crimes, which were developed by local Kazan residents and performed by guest performers from Tatarstan. Often the targets of robberies and pogroms were businessmen who were under the protection of the Kazan citizens themselves. Crimes were rarely solved due to the group's extensive network of police informants. In 1992, the group staged a pogrom with shooting at the Torzhkovsky market. Since the second half of 1993, Kazan residents entered into a struggle with Tambov residents for control over energy trade. As a result, in 1994, Kazan leaders Noil Iskhakov and Albert died. After a successful attempt on Kumarin’s life, the Kazan people took away some of his properties, in particular the Nevsky Palace Hotel. The RUOP dealt a strong blow to the group, arresting the leaders: Artur Kzhizhevich, Martin, Phantom, Afonya, Zozulya, Karp, Dobryak and Pozdnyak. According to some information, Kazan residents tried to create their own bank in St. Petersburg, actively searched for founders, and approached JSCB Rossiya. In March 1994, they showed interest in the building of the Northern Trade Bank on the 2nd line of V.O. The group’s base was the Schlotburg restaurant and the Sadko cafe. The “management” office was located at Kim Ave., 1. The purpose of the group: control over the automobile market, control over commercial structures (JSC, joint venture, small enterprises and financial institutions of the city (banks, exchange offices). Methods: forceful pressure on businessmen, entrepreneurs and bankers. Spheres of influence: controlled Vasileostrovsky, Vyborg, Kalininsky , Krasnogvardeisky and Primorsky districts, Priozersk direction.

Arthur Kzhizhevich (aka Petrozavodsky, Arthur, Dingo): Born in Grozny into a wealthy family. He studied at a music school for gifted children. Komsomol activist at the district level. Successfully engaged in freestyle wrestling. Studied at Grozny University. In 1988, he was convicted of extortion (the victim was one of his father’s friends). The father was offered a bribe for the release of his son, but he refused to do so.

After being beaten by the police, Arthur suffers from chronic kidney disease. Religious, prudent, reserved. He was a member of the council of elders of the influential Japar clan. A good shooter, he has the skills of a bodyguard. He maintained contacts with Malyshev’s group, as well as with a group of graduates of the Military Institute of Physical Culture. Arthur's residence is the restaurant "Sugrob". He controlled trade in the area of Grazhdanka and the Commandant airfield. On Vasilyevsky Island he controlled the Fiji SPI and the Northern Lights bar. His first assistant was Alexander Krupitsin (aka Kolobok), whose brother worked at Liteiny. Kzhizhevich's group was considered the most restless of the Kazan ones. It had many drug addicts, owned a large number of weapons, and was replenished mainly by people of Tatar nationality. The group had contact with one of the employees of the 5th police department (Ligovsky, 145).

Stages of the long journey

What else is known about Kzhizhevich and how did he intersect with Kostya Mogila?

In the early 90s, the brothers laid their eyes on the gold cemetery mine in St. Petersburg. Many of which, by the way, sprouted on the “funeral bread”. By that time, the well-known Kostya Mogila, once a digger at the Southern Cemetery, had already parted with his shovel and taken a leadership position in Malyshev’s criminal empire. His former colleagues in the craft found themselves in the camp of the “Kazan”, who were trying to take over the entire St. Petersburg funeral business.

The Kazan team was led by Artur Kzhizhevich. To collect “tribute” from cemeteries they were assigned “bush guards”. And the director of the funeral department (which was then called SPBO) became Nikolai Petrashkevich, who had once worked part-time at the Southern Cemetery, whom the lads did not hesitate to declare “one of their own”. The “Kazans” quickly pacified the informal undertakers’ union that was on strike. After a series of merciless beatings, funeral funds from the budget flowed like a river into the bandit common fund. But easy money did not bring happiness to the Kazan residents.

One after another, two “tribute” collectors from the Kovalevskoe cemetery disappear without a trace. In Yuzhny, two “bush people” were simply killed - one was shot point-blank right in the cemetery office, the other was blown up in his own yard by a bomb filled with nails. Under unclear circumstances, Petrashkevich himself died while hunting. Then the Kazan team's position was weakened by the arrest of Kzhizhevich. And after one of the two leaders who replaced him was killed and the second ended up in Kresty, the group, as experts say, practically lost the reins of power.

On May 24, 1995, the Kommersant newspaper reported, the sentence of one of the main leaders of the Kazan criminal community in St. Petersburg, Artur Kzhizhevich, came into force. The Petrozavodsk City Court found him guilty of extortion and sentenced him to six years in prison to be served in a maximum security colony with confiscation of property. In the North-West region, this is the first trial of such a major criminal authority in the last six years. The last time a representative of the “highest criminals” of St. Petersburg - the leader of the Tambov group Vladimir Kumarin - was convicted in 1989. Along with Artur Kzhizhevich, Gennady Mosyagin, one of his closest assistants, was also sentenced to six years for extortion.

Arthur Kzhizhevich, together with Gennady Mosyagin, extorted 20 million rubles in August 1994. from the director of a small Petrozavodsk company, which is very atypical for a criminal leader of such a high level. To convince the businessman of the need to make a monetary “deposit” for his life, Kzhizhevich, together with his accomplices, took him from Petrozavodsk to the forest. The businessman was threatened with death. According to RUOP employees, Kzhizhevich himself allegedly fired several shots over the head of his victim. Bullets and casings from a Makarov pistol were found at the scene. The businessman, frightened to death, laid out 5 million. He gave the money to Gennady Mosyagin in cash. After this incident, the Organized Crime Department of the Republic of Karelia took over the security of the entrepreneur.

Kzhizhevich was detained by RUOP officers on August 16, 1994 in St. Petersburg near the Oktyabrskaya Hotel. At the time of his arrest, he was the commercial director of Time JSC. The day before, Gennady Mosyagin was also handcuffed in Karelia. After the arrest, Artur Kzhizhevich, under heavy SOBR security, accompanied by an armored personnel carrier, was transported to Petrozavodsk, where he was placed in pre-trial detention center 1. Literally a week after this, a large accumulation of foreign cars was noted near the detention center. Considering that the Kazan group is one of the most powerful gangs in the region and the crimes committed by it are characterized by extreme audacity, it was decided to transport Arthur Kzhizhevich to the pre-trial detention center of the small town of Segezha in northern Karelia. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Department of Public Administration of Karelia provided enhanced security for Kzhizhevich.

On September 14, 1994, in the Republic of Karelia, the Segezha People's District Court considered the petition of lawyer Kzhizhevich to change the preventive measure from detention to a written undertaking not to leave with a bail of 100 million rubles, which one of the Karelia entrepreneurs was going to pay. The request was denied. During the hearing, all members of the court, the prosecutor, as well as the court building itself were heavily guarded by SOBR soldiers. The lawyer motivated the petition by the fact that his client is in very poor physical condition. On December 23, 1993, in the entrance of his own house, Artur Kzhizhevich was wounded three times from a TT pistol, but thanks to a happy coincidence, he remained alive.

A solid evidence base was collected against the accused. Initially, the prosecutor requested 8 years of imprisonment for the authority, but the court, apparently taking into account the poor state of his health after almost 10 months spent in a pre-trial detention center, limited himself to 6 years. Gennady Mosyagin received the same amount.

Our days

On the pages of the newspaper “I am a bodyguard” from 2000, we find the opinion of a well-known crime journalist in St. Petersburg: “Now many in the city’s criminal environment are waiting for Arthur Kzhizhevich to return to St. Petersburg after serving his sentence. So he will come, they think, and begin to defend all the offended. Kzhizhevich was close to Alexander Malyshev and led a brigade of the so-called “Tatars”. Artur Krzyzewicz is due out in June 2000. He served his full sentence, behaving in the colony differently than is typical for gangster authorities. After all, most bandits believe that the main task that needs to be solved in prison is to get out of it as quickly as possible. To do this, you must follow all prison rules, participate in amateur activities, and maybe give a bribe to someone. In general, do everything to get free as soon as possible. But Kzhizhevich decided on a different course of action for himself: as they write in official documents, he “did not take the path of correction.” They say that the thieves crowned him as a sufferer... And now, six years later, thief in law Kzhizhevich came to St. Petersburg, but everything has already changed. Here everything is measured not by the number of guns or corpses, but by the presence of connections in the Legislative Assembly, RUBOP, and so on. But Kzhizhevich’s methods most likely remained the same as in 1988-89, when he told his guys: fly into a cafe and kill everyone...”

Could such a person “take down” the old offender Kostya Mogila? Quite. But whether the newly-minted “supervisor” of St. Petersburg is an independent figure or whether he just carried out the will of the special services, with some of whose representatives he had long since become close in Karelia, is an open question. It is also unclear whether the murder of Mogila is the beginning of a large-scale purge of the northern capital by the special services from the bandit element or just another strong move in a complex game, the goal of which is undivided control over the St. Petersburg Seaport. But time will tell.

On other days, this event would certainly have become number one news in our city. But not now, when St. Petersburg celebrates its 300th anniversary, leaving everything that does not relate to it in the shadows. You can’t help but think: maybe the timing was not chosen by chance? Last Sunday, Konstantin Yakovlev, better known as Kostya Mogila, was killed in Moscow. The personality in the criminal world is not just famous - legendary. Yakovlev was called “the watchdog” for St. Petersburg from the Moscow “thieves in law.”

Seventh attempt - 33 shots

On May 25, Yakovlev traditionally went to have lunch at one of the restaurants. In addition to him, in the Nissan there were 52-year-old Denis Chikov (he was driving), Kostya Mogila’s friend 30-year-old Marina Volina and 27-year-old Denis Tsarev, on whom they later found the ID of an assistant representative of Taimyr in the Federation Council.

At approximately 16.50, when the car was moving along Obukha Lane and stopped near the UN office building, two motorcycles drove up to the foreign car and opened heavy fire from Kalashnikov assault rifles at the Nissan. All men died on the spot. Volina received two bullets in the shoulder and is now in one of the Moscow hospitals. Police experts found 33 shell casings at the scene.

Konstantin Karol'evich Yakovlev was born on February 4, 1954 in Leningrad. Since childhood, I knew many crime bosses living in the Moscow region, where he lived. In the early 90s, he put together his own group, which engaged in extortion (all criminal communities, without exception, started with this). According to one legend, Yakovlev received the nickname “Tomb” at the beginning of his “career”, when he worked as a digger at the Southern Cemetery. According to another legend, this nickname appeared because Konstantin Karolievich had a reputation as a very reliable, quiet person.

Yakovlev was the first crime boss to “legalize” his business. In 1992, his company already had an office on Varshavskaya Street. By the way, it was this office that was attacked in 1993, but Yakovlev managed to lock himself in his office and thereby save his life. This was far from the only attempt on Kostya Mogila’s life - according to some reports, they tried to kill Yakovlev six times throughout his life.

In the mid-90s, Moscow thieves offered Yakovlev to take the place of the “overseer” in St. Petersburg - to be a resident of the Moscow underworld, to represent its interests. He did not immediately, but agreed. Kostya Mogila was “crowned” by the famous thief in law Ded Hasan (in the world Aslam Usoyan). Yakovlev occupied the position of “supervisor” until mid-2002.

Versions

Today it is extremely difficult to guess who dealt with Yakovlev and for what reason. The fact is that Yakovlev’s commercial interests in our city were very wide: banking, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications business, media. According to rumors, among his connections were such influential people as Boris Berezovsky, Badri Patarkatsishvili, as well as Governor Vladimir Yakovlev and his wife.

However, various sources of AiF-Petersburg put forward five versions of what happened.

Version 1. The murder of Kostya Mogila is “Moscow” and has nothing to do with St. Petersburg. For the last two years, Yakovlev lived in Moscow and visited St. Petersburg on visits. Consequently, the reasons for the assassination attempt and those who ordered it should be sought in the Mother See.

Version 2. Kostya Mogila became a victim of the Tambovites. The reason is the struggle for control over the fuel business in St. Petersburg. Throughout this time, relations between Kostya Mogila and the so-called Tambov criminal community were extremely tense. Thus, the “Tambovites” accused Yakovlev of eliminating several authorities from their group and politicians who patronized them (for example, deputy of the city Legislative Assembly Viktor Novoselov). In response, Mogila accused them of preparing an assassination attempt on him (on March 13, 2000, the attempt was prevented by Yakovlev’s security; the perpetrators “split” that the orderer was Bob Kemerovo, a member of the Tambov organized crime group).

Version 3. The murder of Mogila is a crushing blow to the governor of St. Petersburg Vladimir Yakovlev, and it is connected with the upcoming gubernatorial elections.

Version 4. The murder of Yakovlev is connected with the situation in the Seaport of St. Petersburg. Last year, it was Kostya Mogila who initiated the “loud” strike of dockers. The fact is that in 2002, Yakovlev’s place was taken by Arthur Kzhizhevich. Kzhizhevich began to “squeeze” his predecessor’s business and “survive” it from the port. By the way, two weeks ago the captain of the Sea Port, Mikhail Sinelnikov, was killed. But whether the murder of the captain is connected with the confrontation between Kzhizhevich and Mogila is unknown.

Version 5. Konstantin Yakovlev became a victim of the head of the Academy of National Security, a former associate of Mogila, the “authority” Vladimir Kulibaba. According to rumors, after the “uncoronation” of Kostya Mogila, Kulibaba tried to take over the business of his former “boss”.